The Osaka-based beer and soft-drink maker plans to fund the all-cash deal for the second-largest U.S. maker of whiskey behind Brown-Forman Corp. with cash and about ¥1 trillion in loans from Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. According to people familiar with the matter, Suntory will use around ¥600 billion in cash on hand, and a bridge loan of about ¥1 trillion from BTMU.

With strong capital conditions, Japanese banks are willing to lend but haven’t been able to find appropriate places to do so over the past several years. Now, they are seeing corporate lending pick up, mainly due to financing for cross-border mergers and acquisitions, bankers say.

But aside from lending, the Suntory deal is a big win on the advisory side for Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., whose joint brokerage unit with Morgan Stanley advised Suntory.

The deal will likely lift Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities’ position in the M&A league tables this year, following its impressive performance in 2013, when it took top spot in Japan for the first time.

According to data provider Dealogic, the MUFG-Morgan Stanley joint venture beat out Nomura Holdings Inc. for the Japan M&A crown in advisory rankings.

Some wondered about the cultural and compensation gaps between the domestic retail-oriented securities house and the Wall Street investment bank. MUFG said its strong network of business clients and Morgan Stanley’s experience in providing advisory and financial services for deals would create synergy. But the venture had a tough time making profits, forcing it to cut costs and eliminate jobs.

Yet with its recent deal-making success proof of progress, all of that may be a thing of the past. Bankers expect Japanese companies to keep making big cross-border acquisitions as they need to grow overseas as the domestic population shrinks and ages.

About Japan Real Time

Japan Real Time is a newsy, concise guide to what works, what doesn’t and why in the one-time poster child for Asian development, as it struggles to keep pace with faster-growing neighbors while competing with Europe for Michelin-rated restaurants. Drawing on the expertise of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, the site provides an inside track on business, politics and lifestyle in Japan as it comes to terms with being overtaken by China as the world’s second-biggest economy. You can contact the editors at japanrealtime@wsj.com